A seven-year prison term handed to former South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol has been upheld by the country’s Supreme Court on Thursday, in the first of multiple criminal cases against him over his short-lived martial law declaration in 2024 to be decided by the nation’s highest court.
An April ruling by the Seoul High Court that convicted former President Yoon Suk Yeol has been upheld by the Supreme Court, which found him guilty of breaching Cabinet members’ right to deliberate before the martial law declaration, falsifying the official proclamation to hide procedural shortcomings, later destroying the document, and deploying presidential security forces to unlawfully block his arrest weeks after his impeachment.
The martial law declaration remained in effect for only a few hours before lawmakers at Seoul’s National Assembly broke through a blockade involving heavily armed soldiers and police and voted to overturn the measure, compelling Yoon’s Cabinet to withdraw it.
Yoon, who remains in custody, was not present for Thursday’s ruling, which is final. He is still facing trial in other cases and has appealed a life sentence handed to him after being convicted of the more serious charge of rebellion.
Yoon’s legal team said it was “deeply regrettable” that the Supreme Court reached its decision, arguing that the judges had concluded an important case without conducting a thorough enough review.
The ruling was consistent with the position of the Constitutional Court, which removed Yoon from office in April 2025 after determining that his martial law declaration had no legal basis and did not comply with the required procedures.
Although Yoon summoned 11 Cabinet members to his office shortly before announcing martial law in a late-night televised address on December 3, 2024, several attendees, including then-Prime Minister Han Duck-soo, testified that Yoon simply informed them of his decision instead of seeking discussion or deliberation.
The Seoul High Court also ruled that Yoon breached the rights of nine other Cabinet members by either failing to invite them to the meeting or informing them too late for meaningful participation.
Despite lasting only a short time, Yoon’s martial law declaration plunged South Korea into a deep political crisis, disrupting government operations and high-level diplomatic engagements while causing uncertainty in financial markets. The unrest eventually subsided after his liberal opponent, Lee Jae Myung, won the snap presidential election held in June 2025.
Beyond challenging his life sentence for rebellion, Yoon is also appealing a 30-year prison sentence in another case involving allegations that he ordered drone flights in 2024 to deliberately escalate tensions with North Korea and create conditions that could justify imposing martial law.
Yoon’s lawyers, however, have argued that the drone operations were carried out in response to North Korea’s launch of thousands of trash-filled balloons into South Korea.
